The first detailed academic study of East African maritime traditions shows changes in boatbuilding techniques but the continuing use of wooden vessels by fishers.
Researchers have documented the watercraft using the Zanzibar Channel – using photogrammetry technology – which so many livelihoods depend.
Large local vessels – the mtepe, dau la mtepe, and even the larger jahazis – have long left the Zanzibar Channel because of the development of modern transport infrastructure, the end of the mangrove-pole trade, and the changing political economy of the wider Indian Ocean.
Experts have recorded how boat builders are using newly available propulsion technologies – the out- board and, to a lesser extent, the inboard engine.
But their work also shows high numbers of small fishing vessels still use the Zanzibar Channel. The small-scale artisanal fishing sector is buoyant, largely reflecting population growth, leading to falling stocks and soaring catch rates in inshore waters.